More than 300 young Iraqi Kurdish men heading to the UK last summer were kidnapped in Libya, tortured and threatened with forced organ removal, the BBC has learned.
The hostages, all from Iraqi Kurdistan, were captured by a militia that demanded a ransom of $5,000 (£3,700) from each family. If payment was not made promptly, families were warned, the militia would take payment 'with a kidney'.
“300 Iraqi Kurdish migrants kidnapped in Libya, tortured and threatened with kidney removal unless families paid $5,000 ransom.”
At least one hostage is known to have died, and it remains unclear how many are still captive. Former captives who have since been released showed evidence of torture and said they were kept in cramped conditions, with nearly 180 people sharing a single cell.
The BBC spoke to some of the released hostages and saw photo evidence suggesting forced operations did take place.
The militia was supposed to be guiding the migrants through Libya to the Mediterranean coast. But a dispute over payment had broken out with the Iraqi Kurd people-smuggler, Noah Aaron, who organised the migrants' journey. Aaron is now serving a 10-year prison sentence in France for separate money laundering and smuggling offences.
Details of the kidnappings emerged during a recent BBC investigation into another smuggler, Kardo Jaf, which led to his arrest last month. The two smugglers are believed to have worked together in the past. Both are from the town of Ranya in Iraqi Kurdistan – a region 'riddled with active smuggling networks', according to a report by the UK think tank, Chatham House.
In February, a BBC investigative team was making inquiries about Jaf in Ranya when they were approached by a local man whose son had been among those held. He told the BBC that Aaron's smuggling gang had charged his family thousands of dollars for the journey to the UK – a route that would pass through Libya, a country with a 'huge vacuum of government', according to Anthony Dunkerley, a UN adviser who has investigated human trafficking there.
Much of Libya is controlled by rival militias, and smuggling networks rely on their co-operation. The BBC learned that during the summer of 2025, successive groups of migrants who had flown into Libya from Iraqi Kurdistan were taken to a guarded compound and imprisoned. The militia then demanded $5,000 for each hostage, claiming Aaron had failed to pay it for a previous deal.
The Libyans sent photos and videos of the hostages, many of which were distressing or violent. In one, a young man was filmed while being told he was being taken to a doctor to have his kidney removed.
More than 100 hostages were flown back to Iraqi Kurdistan after being released in January. But for those still missing, the threat of organ theft hangs over their families, who continue to wait for news.
